SpaceX to launch heavy rocket Tuesday

by CBS News

Updated:

After a successful engine test last month, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is ready for launch Tuesday. The three-hour launch window opens at 9:30 a.m. Alaska time, but countdown clocks have been reset for 11:45 a.m. Alaska time due to wind conditions.

Made up of three side-by-side Falcon 9 first stages and an upper stage carrying a cherry red Tesla Roadster, the Falcon Heavy will generate 4.7 million pounds of thrust at launch, more powerful than any other rocket in current use. The rocket will lift off from Kennedy Space Center's historic launch pad 39A.

SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch

What: SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launch

Date: Today, February 6, 2018

Time: 11:45 a.m. Alaska time

Where: Kennedy Space Center, launch pad 39A

SpaceX Falcon Heavy payload

While this is just a test launch, the Falcon Heavy will be carrying Elon Musk's midnight cherry Tesla Roadster, which will be playing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and carrying a dummy pilot dubbed "Starman."

"I love the thought of a car drifting apparently endlessly through space and perhaps being discovered by an alien race millions of years in the future," Musk tweeted late last year.

Future versions of the Falcon Heavy could someday be used to launch missions to the moon or Mars.